Level Feeling/HD
"I feel this article will be informative..." A "Level Feeling" is a common feature of roguelike games that add a small chance of special themes being randomly applied to levels that play a little differently to normal. Level feelings usually add special rules to the level, or unique structures and enemies that do not normally generate. The name comes from how the special themes are commonly announced by exposition in roguelikes, as if the character has a vague sense of premonition about what they are about to run into. Level feelings can stack; it is possible to have, for instance, a flooded Restless Dead level, or a dark Snake Pit level and so forth. Spelunky Guy will always say something at the beginning of a level to indicate what level feeling is active, but will pause if there is more than one feeling before mentioning it. =Level Feelings= Darkness "I can't see a thing! I'd better use these torches!" Locations: The Mines, the Jungle and the Temple, but not on the first or last levels. Terrain Features: The level will be in total darkness, except within a certain distance of light sources. Your vision in the dark is limited to a very narrow radius, and your distance from light sources also affects how dim the screen will appear. The game helpfully generates a torch near the level entrance which is the most useful portable light source available. There will also be other light objects generated around the terrain that do not normally appear, such as unlit torches hanging on the wall, which can lit by bringing the torch to it which will give to gold. Additionally, traps such as Arrow Traps and Tiki Traps have candles on them that generate a small amount of light. Certain weapons and equipment, such as guns and bombs generate a brief but bright flash of light when used. Unique Enemies: Scarab Notes: There will never be more than one dark level per area. Additionally, dark levels will not appear if you completed the previous level in 20 seconds or less, in order to prevent frustrating speed runs. Snake Pit "I hear snakes... I hate snakes!" Location: The Mines Terrain Features: The level contains a snake pit, a long vertical shaft (with cubbyholes along the sides) filled with Snakes. The large amount of treasure that spawns here generally makes a snake pit worthwhile to explore, provided you have enough ropes or bombs to facilitate escape afterwards - two or three ropes is usually a safe amount. A snake pit always has two rubies in the bottom of the pit guarded by five snakes. Falling from the top of the snake pit is usually fatal as the snakes will attack you while you're stunned. A mattock can be found by bombing the bottom of a snake pit inside the ground; with a little luck, this can allow you to get through the level using only a single bomb. Unique Enemies: None, but snakes are found at the bottom of the pit in a far higher concentration than they can usually spawn. Trivia: The phrase "I hate snakes!" may be a reference to Indiana Jones, who is known for disliking snakes. Spider's Lair "My skin is crawling..." Location: The Mines Terrain Features: The level contains four gigantic spider hanging on the ceiling close to each other. Killing them gives off a lot of gems. The unlockable character, 'Round Girl' can be found here, assuming you haven't unlocked her before. Unique Enemies: None, but four Giant spiders can be found hanging on the ceiling close to each other. Restless Dead "The dead are restless!" Location: The Jungle Terrain Features: Mostly normal, except Gravestones will generate on top of the terrain which can be destroyed for loot. More bones and Skeletons will be found than usual, trees will appear to be dead, and Piranhas will be skeletal. There will be no Golden Idols on this level, but instead there is a chance of finding a Crystal Skull. Once the Crystal Skull is taken The Ghost will appear suddenly afterwards. It is also guaranteed that there will be a grave marked 'Ash' on it, below which will be a shotgun buried. Unique Enemies: Vampires and Jiang Shi will be found only on these levels, as well as skeletal Piranhas. There will also be many more Skeletons than usual. Trivia: The Ash Grave is a reference to the character Ash Williams from the Evil Dead''series. Haunted Castle ''"The wolf howls in the distance..." Location: The Jungle Terrain Features: There will be be a long castle on the centre of the level. At the bottom of the castle is the entrance to the castle, the exit of the level and a guaranteed altar. Unique Enemies: There will be Green Knights and a Black Knight on the top floor of the castle. Notes: This level feeling always and only occurs in the Haunted Castle. Flooded Cavern "You hear rushing water..." Location: The Jungle Terrain Features: A large portion of the bottom of the map is one huge lake. The exit tunnel is always found above the water level on an island. Unique Enemies: Old Bitey appears in the large lake at the bottom of the map, along with a whole shoal of regular Piranhas. The Black Market "Welcome to the Black Market!" Location: The Jungle Terrain Features: The upper levels of the area are comprised of six shops in rows linked by ladders, and one shop unique to this area on the far right edge that sells the Ankh. The bottom layer is ordinary terrain. Unique Enemies: None, but is populated with all the normal hazards in addition to several Shopkeepers with itchy trigger fingers. Notes: This level is not applied randomly at the start of a floor, but the secret entrance must be located in area 2 behind solid terrain using the Udjat Eye and revealed with a bomb or a mattock. Yeti Kingdom "It smells like wet fur in here!" Location: The Ice Caves Terrain Features: Unlike ordinary levels in the Ice Caves, the terrain of the Yeti Kingdom is much more continuous (although a large portion of it is ice), so the risk of falling to your death is not as great. However, fragile ice bridges with spikes underneath are common, and the loose blocks dropped by the Yeti King can block passages or crush you unexpectedly. Unique Enemies: The Yeti King is found only on this level, and has a large entourage of ordinary Yetis. UFO Crash Site "There's a psychic presence here!" Location: The Ice Caves Terrain Features: Most of the space in this level is just empty caverns, with a large alien Mothership embedded in one of the walls. A jetpack can always be found hidden in the wall behind the Alien Lord. Unique Enemies: The Alien Lord appears inside the mothership, guarded by an energy barrier that blocks thrown objects. There are also more UFOs than usual. Mothership entrance "It feels like fourth of July..." Location: The Ice Caves Terrain Features: There will a vertical column present either on the top-right corner ot the top-left corner of the level, which contains the entrance to the Mothership. Unique Enemies: None. Notes: This level feeling always and only occurs in the Level 4-4. Trivia: For those who don't know, July 4 is independence day in USA. Sacrificial Pit "I can hear prayers to Kali!" Location: The Temple Terrain Features: A deep pit spawns with numerous arrow traps and a pool of lava at the bottom. A Damsel and a Golden Idol can be found suspended above on a platform. Picking up the Idol causes the platform to disintegrate instantly, sending the Spelunker into the pit. This usually results in death, unless he has climbing gloves or a jetpack to aid his escape. The ground tiles underneath the lava pit contain rubies. Unique Enemies: None, but a Damsel is guaranteed to be found. The City of Gold "It's the legendary City of Gold!" Location: The Temple, accessed by using the Hedjet and Scepter to open the golden door. Terrain Features: The area is not too different from a regular area 4 level, except all the solid tiles in the room are made of pure gold, which drop gold bars when broken. Additionally, there is a unique Golden Statue which can be broken open for Diamonds and other assorted jewels. Unique Enemies: Anubis II Notes: Accessing the City of Gold is briefly explained in its original article. There will also be a book (accessory) called the 'Necronomicon' AKA 'Book of the Dead' present somewhere in this level, which is an necessory item for reaching Hell. Picking the book will cause Anubis II to spawn. Trivia: The City of Gold could be a reference to the Seven Cities of Cibola, which were rumored by Indians in the 16th century to be made of gold and filled with riches. This theory is supported by the fact that the cave which the Spelunker descends into is located in the desert, which is where the Indians said that the cities were located. =Exploitation= Level feelings can be an exploited in roguelikes like Spelunky with a technique known as 'level scumming'. This is done by generating a new level in the hopes of being given a certain feeling, and quitting and retrying if the feeling does not appear. For instance, if the player wanted to start a game with an easy Jetpack, they would take the shortcut to Level 9 in the hopes of walking into a 'UFO Crash Site' level. If it turned out to be a regular level (or a 'Yeti Kingdom' level), they would take the easy way out and go through the shortcut again. Scumming can also be done in the hopes of finding a shop, but since shopping sprees typically require a few levels of treasure to fund, this is not a very productive strategy for those not wishing to become the target of unrelenting geriatric vengeance.